How much has Joe Biden earned from book deals, speeches, and other income while president?
Executive summary
Available public records and reporting show most of Joe Biden’s external earnings before and after his vice presidency came from an $8 million multibook deal and paid speeches that together produced roughly $13–16 million in the years after 2017 (reports vary by outlet) [1] [2] [3]. While Biden received a $400,000 annual presidential salary during his term (2021–2025), White House disclosures and tax filings show his book royalties and speaking income fell sharply while he was president, with royalties and paid speaking largely negligible in later filing years [4] [5].
1. The big payday that changed the Bidens’ finances — books and speeches
When Biden left the vice presidency in 2017 he and Jill Biden signed a multibook deal reported at about $8 million, and the couple’s post‑White House earnings surged: they reported roughly $11 million in 2017 and continued to pull in millions in 2018 and 2019 from book advances, royalties and speaking engagements, producing total post‑White House income in the mid‑teens of millions, according to tax returns and reporting by AP, CNN and Business Insider [1] [3] [2].
2. How much came specifically from speeches and tours
Reporting based on disclosures shows paid speeches and book‑tour appearances produced several million dollars: CNN and Politifact cite about $1.8 million from 30 book‑tour stops and roughly $2.4–4+ million from speaking engagements in the early post‑vice‑president years, with individual fees that ranged often from tens of thousands to as much as $200,000 per event in some reports [3] [6] [7].
3. Royalties, advances and the debate over totals
Different outlets use different measures — gross advances, reported income on tax returns, or campaign disclosures — which yields divergent totals. Publishers Weekly reported the Flatiron multibook deal was valued at $8 million [1], Forbes and others compiled tax filings that show large jumps [8], while critics note that book sales and the split between advance vs. earned royalties make it hard to pin an exact “money made from book sales” number without seeing publisher accounting [9]. Available sources do not provide publisher accounting that would reconcile advances, royalties and net income beyond the tax filings and disclosures already reported [1] [9].
4. Income while president — salary and sharply lower outside earnings
As president Biden received the statutory presidential salary (widely reported at $400,000 annually during his term) while White House financial disclosures and tax returns show that his outside income — book royalties and paid speaking — dropped substantially during his time in office; one White House disclosure noted royalties and paid speaking were “sharply” lower and nearly negligible in some filing years [5] [4].
5. Post‑presidency prospects and reported speaking fee ranges
Reports after his presidency describe potential speaking fees in the high hundreds of thousands per engagement — outlets cite ranges of roughly $300,000 to $500,000 or a reported standard fee of $300,000 — but multiple outlets also reported difficulties booking paid engagements and that few organizations have paid those fees, so projected post‑presidential earnings are uncertain [10] [11] [12].
6. Reconciling the headline net worth and the income lines
Forbes, Investopedia and multiple finance sites place the Bidens’ combined net worth in the low‑double‑digit millions as of 2024–2025, driven largely by real estate and the post‑2017 earnings spike from books and speeches, plus pensions and savings; those net‑worth estimates incorporate historic book and speech income but vary because methodologies differ and not all underlying documents are public [5] [13] [14].
7. What the sources agree on — and where reporting diverges
Sources consistently agree the couple’s income rose sharply after 2017 because of a multibook deal and paid speaking [1] [3]. They diverge about precise totals and allocations: some reporting aggregates gross advances and speaking gig totals to describe $15–16 million earned in early years [2] [1], while other analyses and critics question whether book sales and publisher accounting support the headline figures and note lack of granular public publisher records [9] [6].
8. Limitations and what remains unknown
Public tax returns, White House disclosures and journalistic reporting provide the best available totals, but publisher accounting, the net split after agents and expenses, and detailed speaker contract terms are not fully public; therefore precise, line‑by‑line tallies of “how much Biden earned from book deals, speeches and other outside income while president” cannot be fully reconciled from available reporting alone [1] [9] [4].
Bottom line: reporting based on tax returns and financial disclosures shows the Bidens earned roughly $13–16 million from book deals and speeches in the immediate post‑vice‑presidential years, presidential salary provided the principal documented income while in office, and outside royalties/speaking income fell sharply during the presidency; exact publisher or contract-level accounting is not publicly available to reconcile all reported totals [3] [5] [1].